Does anyone fancy a "puppy survival" thread part 2

[Soubriquet]

Here we are again

Just jump in and join us

Welcome to the teenage club Skeleton . Can't believe mine is almost 9 months now, time flies.

lol it's been mentioned once or twice bagel

9 months and much calmer here.
Today she met a shire horse, took a treat from a policeman and got second place in best movement! All at county show. She's shattered now!

Wolfiepup has a better social life than I do

Since starting on his medication I haven't had to leave Bluepuppy much but he has stopped crying and jumping when I'm on the other side of the baby gate.

That's great progress.
Wolfie pup sleeping off the heavy weekend!

Ah blue, that sounds like a good baby step :-)

Our pup had a social weekend too; picnic in the park with 7 other families on Friday night, then Sunday lunch at my uncle and aunt and their 14 year old dog! Pup was well behaved and ran round him in figure of eights to try and get him to play. He just stood in the middle wagging his tail each time towel pup came past: lovely old gent! They've got a huge garden with ponds, squirrels, rabbits galore: we were both a bit downhearted being back in our urban backyard again today with only the sparrows to amuse us!

Well he had a bit of a setback today. Did some crying and barking at the baby gate again. I'm trying him on a higher dose to see how he goes. It seems this process is going to involve plenty of patience. Not my strength at the best of times!

On a lighter note, my puppy has got me to sign up to Facebook and Instagram. One of the daycare centres he attends posts photos on Instagram every day. It seems he has a girlfriend, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever about the same age as him

blue they do try your patience don't they . Two steps forward and one back.

The lady that does my day care often sends me photos of their adventures. It's really nice seeing them happy isn't it even when they aren't with you.

I'm so busy now it's ridiculous

On top of the two children and puppy training (who I think is hitting teenage phase) I now have a baby hedgehog to hand rear.

He's doing very well and I've had him since Sunday afternoon.

Lexa..now she is becoming a right madam. She's only 4 months old but I think toy breeds mature quicker than large don't they? So I think she's hit teenage stage and it's a bloody nightmare.

We've had a big regression on toileting, she destroys and chews everything she gets hold of. I'm constantly taking things of her though she is learning the word no.

She has now discovered that if she digs enough she can get to the black rubbish bags, chew them open and get goodies

So got to rethink all that.

She's still brilliant off lead on walking though so there is that

Spot the dog

Soubriquet yes smaller breeds mature faster than the larger ones. The good news is that you will get through it quicker but yes I am also finding working full time, looking after him and keeping up the training is very tiring.

LOVE hedgehogs - how did you get a baby one? - I'm very jealous!

Blue keep on keeping on - I'm sure you'll get there.

We're doing OK here - Flipdog (who as I think I said is not a puppy but is very new to us - only had her 4 weeks today) is settling really well. She's just started showing us her tummy for tickles and leaning against us.

He was found orphaned in the middle of the lawn with his brother. Search around found mum dead under a bush, so they had left the nest wiggling and wobbling trying to find heat and food.

A friend posted them on fb not knowing what to do with them and I've hand reared two (admittedly a bit older than these two) before so offered to take them in.

Unfortunately, one was a bit too poorly so I had to have him pts yesterday, but the other one is really thriving.

hello all, can i join in? I've read through most of the thread an you lot sound lovely. We are getting out puppy next week- he will be 6 weeks old (i know there is research to say its too young but there isn't another timing option.). I've never had a dog, though my DH has. We have 2 boys (6 and 8) who are excited....! So far I have a cage... shopping for toys, same puppy food as he is used to, a play pen and dog bed, bowls,.... what else do I need? Collar/ harness/ lead....
Am just looking for a friendly place to have for when I need some support! Puppy is a lab cross with english settter.

Hi Captainladder things I found useful as well was a baby gate to keep him in one room especially when toilet training, a baby monitor so I could watch and listen at night as he slept separately and lots and lots of kitchen towels/tissues for the accidents .

Do you have poo bags on your shopping list?

Ooooohhhhhh Captain I grew up with a setter lab cross. Gorgeous boy.

ha ha poo bags... well I have for some reason a massive amount of unused nappy bags so was going to use those...

i'm veering between massive excitement and OMG what am I thinking.

mostly excitement though.

also.. (and please forgive the abundance of posts) I was hoping to be able to take pup into the garden (no other dogs) BUT I am now quite concerned about snails / slugs... lungworm... so what do I do? puppy has had worming treatment (panacur)... is that enough?

The risk is low in your garden and you will want to be supervising them at all times during toilet training so you should be able to stop him/her from eating them. What I did (as we have had deer and foxes and lots of other wildlife in our garden before we dog proofed it) was to just go and remove the obvious snails/slugs/deer poo that we could see pre vaccination.

Also I forgot to say some people pop their puppy on a lead for toilet training to keep them in one spot in the garden which if you were concerned about lots of slugs/snails etc might be something you could do.

I had to have big girl on a lead to stop her eating stones and other rubbish!

Good luck with pup Captain. Photos are always appreciated

Bluepuppy did not do we with the higher dose of Trazodone. I was warned that there was a chance that it would have the opposite reaction of calming him down and the higher dose sent him absolutely hyperactive! My poor parents had to look after him and he was like a puppy on speed. Sigh, back to the drawing board it seems.

Luckily he has a follow up appointment this Friday. I will ask if I can try him on something else.

I try not to look too far into the future but the truth is if medication doesn't work I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Daycare and my parents are working as a stop gap solution for now but I can't afford to send him to daycare this much long term and I feel bad relying on my parents so much. There is also the issue that I can't even go shopping or go to a movie on the weekend

blue maybe have a timeline where you will assess whether it has improved enough to keep going in the long term e.g. 3 months or whatever time period you can afford daycare financially.

I think I'm just going to make sure I've tried all possible options as far as training and medication go. Just don't want to end up three years down the road with no life apart from work and my dog. I've booked a trip abroad for two weeks next February and I'm determined to go!

Welcome captain and haunt!

Awww, poor blue pup :-( I second the idea of a timeline: I think saying 'I will reassess in a month, and see what progress we've made' takes the stress off a bit - when towelpup was at his barky-est, I was imagining a life of 3am walks ... 6 weeks on and things are very different! The other thing my behaviourist asked is to do was imagine our ideal ... then work out what was 'good enough' /manageable. That was a helpful technique for me too.